Richard Andrew 'Dick' Barry was born on June 10th 1919 in Bay Ridge Sanatorium, Brooklyn, NY. He attended Blessed Sacrament, P.S. 87 and St. Gregory's grammar schools, as well as De La Salle Institute, from which he graduated in 1937. After highschool he went to Manhattan College in September 1937, from which he graduated on June 10th 1941. While at Manhattan he worked as a page at the New York library at 25 cents per hour, the mimimum wage at the time.

While at Manhattan, one of his extra curricular activities was attending "Tea dances" at the College of New Rochelle, never realizing that his future bride Josephine Sheehan would graduate from there in 1949.

Dick registered for the draft in October 1940 at 149th Street and Convent Ave. He was deferred until graduation in 1941. Then he was further deferred to "1B" because of his eyesight.

In January of 1942 he got wind of a job in Trinidad (British West Indies) as a paymaster for the Walsh Driscoll Construction Company, which was constructing a huge base because the West Indies were in danger of an invasion.

One of the early starters among the overseas contractors was the Walsh Construction Co. of Davenport IA, who opened headquarters at 41 E. 42nd Street for the recruiting of its Trinidad army base, with the George F. Driscoll Co. of Brooklyn. The estimated cost of building the Trinidad base was $51 million and approximately 2500 men were hired. The plans for the Trinidad Army base included an airfield, quarters for troops and dock.The Navy base in Trinidad, estimated at $11 million, and 1000 men, was handled by other contractors.Courtesy of Alison Wallner

Dick's ID's while working for Walsh Driscoll

It wasn't until May that he sailed on the Robert E. Lee - an Alcoa Transport - with stops at Puerto Rico, St. Lucia and Antigua, finally landing at Port of Spain, Trinidad, 9 days later. His draft board had given him a deferment to take this job.

He only stayed in Trinidad 7 months, then decided to join the Armed Forces. Dick's brother Bob had meanwhile graduated in June 1942, then enlisted in the Coast Guard and was commissioned an ensign in November 1942. Dick had resigned from the construction job and arrived just in time for the graduation.